Opening remarks brought to you by your Smart Fabrics Summit MC, Dr. Amanda Mills.

Dr. Adam Curry, Innovation Ecosystem Director, ASSIST Center

ASSIST is an Engineering Research Center (ERC) based at NC State University that unites academia and industry to advance self-powered wearable sensing technologies. ASSIST conducts cutting-edge research in the areas of energy harvesting, low-power sensors, low-power electronics, electronic textiles, and engineered systems, integrating these core technologies into next-generation e-apparel, wearable patches, and other wearable devices.

In this talk, ASSIST’s Innovation Ecosystem Director, Adam Curry, will provide an overview of ASSIST’s research and discuss how ASSIST works with multi-disciplinary students and faculty; companies; entrepreneurs; and supporting organizations to translate its next-generation technologies to the market.

Join your industry colleagues for a delicious buffet lunch!  Reconnect with familiar faces and get to know the new ones.

Speaker Details Coming Soon!

This engaging panel will take a broad look at the current research & development, manufacturing, and entrepreneurial ecosystems in the advanced textiles market, where things are in 2022 compared to pre-COVID, and what the future of those ecosystems looks like.

Join us for this collaborative and interactive session that will include an industry expert, an academic research expert and a government representative as share what it will take to get smart fabrics “back to the future.”

Dr. Jan Beringer, Senior Scientific Expert, Hohenstein

For long term missions in space or telemedicine and fitness on Earth, health monitoring is the future. To develop and improve technologies for continuous and wireless monitoring of astronauts, a cross-functional team has developed the SmartTex t-shirt for experiments on the International Space Station (ISS).

The T-Shirt consists of specific materials designed for ergonomic and comfortable use in space and contains integrated and adaptable sensors that will monitor and transmit several detailed parameters using ballistocardiography (muscular contraction).

SmartTex is part of the Wireless Compose-2 project, a collaboration between the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Hohenstein, DSI Aerospace, Bielefeld University and Hamburg University of Technology.

Michelle Farrington, Vice President of Strategic Growth · Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA)

Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) will provide an update on new technologies in passive and active textiles supported through recent project calls.  These projects enable fundamental new capabilities in advanced textile systems.  Some technologies such as waterproof breathable FR and bioderived self-cooling materials, enable enhanced textile performance while others are related to providing building blocks towards e-textile systems.  These include advancements in metamaterials printing, gesture sensing, RF routing, and the knitting of carbon nanotube yarns.

AFFOA also recognizes that enabling robust and manufacturable processes requires infrastructural elements requiring the development of design rules for the use of conductive yarns as well as the development of new commercially available connectors and textile device components.  Projects relating to new infrastructural elements will also described.

New start-up companies are supported by AFFOA in bringing new capabilities to market. Companies developing innovations such as 3D weaving, T-Shirts that change graphic design, soft robotics for rehab and CNTs for electrodes will be discussed.

Charles Freeman, Associate Professor, Mississippi State University
Erin Parker, Graduate Student, Mississippi State University
Harish Chander, Associate Professor, Mississippi State University
David Saucier, Research Engineer, Mississippi State University

The innovation and development of smart textiles for uses from sensor validation to advanced military operations is exploding in the market. However, building a comprehensive solution still remains fragmented across academia and industry.

The multi-disciplinary MSU Athlete Engineering team, comprised of researchers from textiles, kinesiology, industrial engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and AI computer science are leading the way for validation of wearable technologies integrated into smart textiles and consumer products. From muscle activation shorts to ankle movement sock sensors, the team has reported on both feasibility and validation studies in over 20 journals for more than 50 publications.

This presentation will focus on the connections across the current siloed market segments to build and validate a comprehensive smart textile solution.

Dr. George Sun, CEO & Founder, Nextiles Inc.

Material science innovations such as e-textiles and conductive threads have been around for decades; however, we have yet to see mass consumer adoption of these innovations. This can be attributed to a fragmented yet quickly growing market for wearable technologies. Many of these innovations do catch the eye of the government for one-off use cases, or other academic settings such as labs but still never reach escape velocity or market traction. Nextiles’ seamless approach is complementary to the vast IOT market by providing a non-intrusive, full stack hardware-software offering for both consumers and businesses to capitalize on.

As one of the leaders in soft-good electronics and data engineering, Nextiles has found a way to modularize a fundamental sensing platform that can be applied for consumer, business, and government solutions.

Actionable insights attendees will gain:

• Why a B2B2C approach is what the market is missing
• How materials science companies can better prepare themselves for scale by raising venture capital (or institutional money)
• Why the NSF and Airforce awarded Nextiles with Phase 1 SBIRs in 2021
• How to optimize rapid prototyping and manufacturing by focusing on local labor in the US

Join us for a fun and engaging end to the first day of the Smart Fabrics Summit.  Mix and mingle with your industry peers over drinks and appetizers.

Begin your day with a change of venue!

We will convene in the morning and enjoy breakfast at the state-of-the art, world renowned Wilson College of Textiles. Get to know Wilson College faculty, staff, and students and prepare for engaging tours of Wilson College facilities, with hands on workshops!

Beginning at 9 AM, join 30-minute tours of both the Wilson College of Textiles labs and the ASSIST Center’s state-of-the-art research facilities.  Tours of each facility will happen concurrently and rotate to maximize participation. Each tour group can accommodate approximately 10-15 participants.

Logistics details coming soon!

While lab tours are taking place, join select Wilson College students and faculty for a selection of demos, poster presentations, and other hands on-activities on a number of topics relative to e-textiles and related cutting edge research, all driven by students!

Specific details on students and topics will be announced soon!

A top-tier keynote presenter is in the works!  Stay tuned!